The NHL/NHPA European Player Media Tour is off and running in Munich, Germany, at the moment, with a select number of players speaking to journalists.
Among those players is Ottawa Senators star center Tim Stutzle.
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Unsurprisingly, former Senators captain and now current Florida Panthers winger Brady Tkachuk was brought up during Stutzle’s availability, fielding all sorts of questions about Tkachuk’s departure.
“I feel like you’re always surprised over a big move like that,” Stutzle told The Hockey News’ David Alter during the NHL/NHLPA European Player Media Tour in Munich on Friday.
“Yeah, we’re going to miss him, but at the end of the day we have to focus on what’s ahead and what we have in Ottawa. We have a lot of guys who love being in Ottawa — and I’m sure he did too. It was just time for him to move on and we’ve got to accept that.”
Tkachuk was the fourth overall pick of the Senators in the 2018 NHL draft. He went on to play eight seasons with the Senators, five of which he served as an assistant captain. In 572 games with the Senators, Tkachuk scored 213 goals and 473 points. No player on the Senators recorded more goals or points since Tkachuk made his debut.
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Tkachuk was as important to the Senators franchise as any player had been in their history. Still, as the disappointing seasons mounted and the fans’ frustration following the 2026 Olympics grew, it reached a point where the Senators and Tkachuk agreed it was time to move on.
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The Senators would trade Tkachuk to Florida on June 21 in exchange for the No. 9 and No. 25 picks in the 2026 NHL draft, as well as a conditional first-round pick in the 2029 NHL draft and a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL draft. The Senators then flipped the No. 9 pick to the San Jose Sharks for forward William Eklund and selected Jonas Lgerberg-Hoen with the No. 25 pick.
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Teammates and fans were shocked by the move, but a select few, including Stutzle, were appreciative of what Tkachuk had done for the franchise.
“I want to thank ‘Chucky’ for what he’s done for me, for my teammates,” said Stutzle. “He took me in when I was younger and did everything in a possible way to make me feel welcome and he was always a good teammate and obviously a really, really good player.”
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The Senators are hoping to remain a playoff team in the highly competitive Atlantic Division, but it won’t be easy. They are hoping the additions of Eklund and Andre Burakovsky, and the promotions of some of their young prospects, will help them remain competitive, but losing their leader and one of the NHL’s premier power forwards is a major blow.
As for the Panthers, they are hoping Tkachuk brings his physical nature, dominant net-front presence and goal-scoring abilities to a lineup that dealt with numerous injuries last season.
Time will tell how this deal works for both sides.
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